Acting Chief Justice, Roxanne George-Wiltshire, has ordered that Police Inspector, Prem Narine be released from custody. This comes hours after he was sentenced to serve seven days in prison for asking Magistrate, Rondel Weever to address him with respect.
The magistrate claimed that the inspector unlawfully insulted her when he asked her to address him with respect. This was reportedly after she raised her voice at him and chased him from the witness stand.
The Guyana Standard has been informed that after the sentencing, the inspector’s lawyer, Siam Dhurjon, filed an application in the High Court where he argued that the magistrate’s decision was unlawful.
The Chief Justice (ag)after listening to the case ordered that the Inspector be released from custody.
Earlier today at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, the inspector was presenting evidence in a case involving known conman Mohamed Ali who was charged for obtaining $2.1M worth in phone credit by falsely pretending to be Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence. Based on information received from someone who was present in the courtroom, the inspector, while giving his evidence, asked to have a look at his statement, to which the magistrate agreed. The policeman then asked to see his statement for a second time.
This second request reportedly angered the prisoner, who then began making a lot of noise in the courtroom. This news agency was told that the magistrate then shouted at the inmate to calm down. In the same breath, she reportedly turned to the rank and shouted at him too, telling him that she cannot show him the statement.
This news agency has verified that it is not prohibited for someone to ask a magistrate to see their statement while they are on the witness stand. The magistrate then chased the cop out of the witness box. This reportedly caused the policeman to ask the magistrate to speak to him with respect.
The Guyana Standard has been told that the cop’s statement angered the magistrate who prepared a warrant for him to be sent to prison for seven days. Narine was immediately arrested.
The Inspector has been a serving member of the Guyana Police Force for 19 years
